Florida (8-6, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) has quite a few moving pieces to figure out before Saturday’s 7 p.m. tip-off in the O’Connell Center against Mississippi State (7-7, 0-1 SEC).
After suspending center Jon Horford and walk-on Zach Hodskins two days ago for conduct detrimental to the team, coach Billy Donovan confirmed on Friday that Jon Horford is back with the team.
But Horford will not play Saturday. Donovan said it was a mutual decision to bench Horford.
“He really wants some time to try to come back to our team where he's really is emotionally, mentally and physically really, really ready to go and to contribute to the best he can,” Donovan said. “He felt like and I agree with him, … for him to get there to that point, I think he needed a little bit of time, and we're going to give him that.”
Hodskins remains suspended from the team.
Michael Frazier may be another possibly moving piece in Donovan’s starting lineup versus the MSU. On Friday, Donovan said on Friday that he would not start the junior guard, as he’s been out of practice sick with an upper respiratory infection.
Aside from Frazier’s limited ability due to his illness, Donovan said he was proud of how he played and responded against South Carolina—especially to his missed shots.
“And that’s the biggest problem with Michael,” Donovan said. “Sometimes when he misses shots he gets totally taken out of the game, and he has to be able to stay with it and stick with it because the next one that comes he has to be in the right frame of mind to shoot it.”
Frazier notched 17 points, two assists and just one personal foul against South Carolina in 29 minutes played on Wednesday.
Frazier’s focus could come in handy if he’s able to start and stay playing a good amount of minutes against Mississippi State on Saturday.
“They’re good with their hands and a good steals team,” Donovan said. “There will be some similarities to South Carolina in terms of the pressure we’ll face, and then obviously there will be some differences.”
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Jon Horford dunks during Florida's overtime win against Louisiana Monroe
